This is our journal to share our homeschool adventures, as well as our life, with family & friends. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Wed, 4 Oct 2006 13:50:00 -0500 Wed, 4 Oct 2006 13:50:00 -0500 My heavenly Death.Nice quiet scenes Turn to dark red battlesThe cute blush of my cheeks Is now faintly blue with coldMy serinity has evaporatedAnd I face the inevitableMy blood runs icyBut the rush or red tricklingAs if crawlingIs a comfortless warmthAgainst my clammy skinBut I have no complaints Because the peace is returning[alternate ending]And my soul has been burningFor another glimpse of youI have been waitingFor the overwhelming whiteThe welcome home I recieveIs the satisfaction I need~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Ol` Black and WhiteHe'd been stabbed, bled, choked, and whipped, but he still peresevered. He was starved and beaten but the decision was made. He knew he was on his way to a glorius victory. To die for those he loved was worth every ounce of his pain. They would be forgiven for what they did to him and why they did it. As the nails fell in place and they hung his tree on the hillside, the demons screamed. And as Jesus drew his last breath, he knew the real victory.[part 2]"An army will stop them!" communicated the young demon stupidly."You're so inexperienced that you don't even know how stupid that sounds. Let alone if we did it." the demon responded back."The Son of God cannot be stopped by an army." expressed the wise old demon."Shut up! All of you! We shall wait. He cannot handle God forsaking him. He will rescue himself or I will persuade him to do it."  Satan commanded them.He Jesus had never been seperated from God. So at the cross the next day, he slithered up the hill and whispered in Jesus's ear, "Why did your father leave you Jesus? Why are you seperated from him? You should go to him."But Jesus only looked at him and said three words that had every demon screaming in agony. "It is finished." http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/214215/ Wed, 4 Oct 2006 13:50:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/214215/ I realize I've been MIA since before our school year started, so I'll take this chance to get everyone up to date.  We will be coming to the close of our first quarter at the end of October, so I will post a new update at that time as well.  Overall changes to this year is a new Co-op and a new schedule.  We begin our day with an iron rich breakfast (teenage girls need their iron) and a little School House Rocks! We love these songs, and they get basic refreshers.  Then I work one on one with Jacob while the girls work independently.  Occasionally the girls will need me for something, but they are on their own for the most part.The Co-op is wonderful!  We already feel at home there and it has helped our acclemation to the homeschool community here.  The kids are finally meeting other kids.  And for the most part, they are really enjoying their classes.Cassie is doing well so far.  Her most difficult and time consuming subject by far is Latin.  Her schedule is fairly rigerous for first semester:  World History, Chemistry, Algebra2 (she's taken this already prior to high school, we just wanted to lighten her load), Grammar, Vocabulary, Art (basic color, drawing technique~this is not her forte), Voice (on her own and she is scheduled for an audition for the high school praise team of our new church).  She is contemplating getting back into Karate for pe.  We will see.  Her co-op classes include a Shakespeare literature class,  History of Current Events (this is a credit class), SAT Math Prep, Yearbook Club, and Drama-Improv Comedy.Jessica is doing well, contrary to what she thinks.  Her talent, unsuprisingly so, lies in the language arts areas.  She is taking on a bit of a challenging semester as well.  Her schedule includes:  Math 7/6 (She was placed here due to a poorly taken achievement test over the summer.  She insists she is in "stupid math" even though she is testing steadily through it and will complete it within the semester.), Grammar, Spelling, Vocabulary, Physical Science, History of the Constitution, Christian Literature, Spanish, and Guitar.  Her co-op classes consist of a very heavy literature class of works by Austen & Dickens, a stitch class (she's chosen knitting.), Forensic Science (a survey/lab class), Forensics (not the same as the former.  This is the Speech Team...She will be competing with a recitation of "The Raven" by Poe in January.), and Yearbook Club.Jacob is improving by leaps and bounds this year.  The one on one work was more than necessary.  He is behind grade level work due to the visual processing and confidence issues left from public school.  Because he is middle school level, my main priority for him is to be able to work independently by the end of the year.  This means much, much practice.  He starts his day with mental warm-ups using logic puzzles, a handwriting page (the physical task of writing is still a chore for him due to the visual processing issues.), and timed math tests.  We then work several mental math problems verbally and move to our Math lesson.  His schedule is as follows:  Math 7/6, Grammar, Literature, Early US History (literature/character incorporating lapbooks), Zoology (studying flying creatures), Spelling, Art (the same as Cassie), and Typing.  Because we are pushing in his everyday studies, he is limited to 3 classes for Co-op:  Toastmasters (to build confidence in speaking in front of others.), Open Gym, and America at War (a video/quiz class).More info to follow... http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/212166/ Sun, 1 Oct 2006 07:34:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/212166/ It's that time again...I'm finally getting to the agenda books for the coming year.  This has not been a difficult task, but not a short one either.  I've detailed the agenda books in an earlier post from March of last year.So far I've created the calendar pages for the year, August-July.  Each child has their specific font & background.  I've included scripture for each month as well...food for thought I suppose.  I've also added our school breaks, end of quarters for the older ones in CLASS, and various other activities.  I think they've turned out well.  I'll have the girls proof them once more before printing.  I would hate to waste that much ink on an error. I've also added several things to the reference section.  These are very child specific.  For instance, Cassie has Latin declensions/conjugations, a summary of Chemistry experiments, periodic table and other various chemistry formulas and conversions.  Jess has a summary of experiments for Physical Science.  Jacob on the other has his spelling lists for the year and a reading log.  No doubt I will be adding things such as grade tracking on their experiments, Vocabulary words, time tracking for music and typing, etc.And as soon as I finish this, I will begin on my own personal little planner.  I believe I'll include my school checklists laminated, color coded copies of the kids' checklists,  color coded lab supply lists, correspondence logs, a year at a glance, and the monthly calendars to coincide with the childrens.  Pretty much anything I need to see printed out and can travel.  All else stays on the computer, such as grades.That's all for now... back to the grindstone. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/172932/ Tue, 25 Jul 2006 22:16:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/172932/ The Only Difference Between Reality And Puppets   They will never know what is going on.  No they will not.  We are going to feed our nation newer, better, and sexier trends.  And they won't even know that they are our little puppets.  But this isn't against their will b/c they waqnt an alternative to that strict no fun policy of the "UPRIGHT".  So we will make the new improved lifestyle and then wait for it to fall apart like the one before.   These are our plans:  the teenagers will divide into two groups.  One is the trend following, the well known "preps".  Except our newer version which is more tramp.  As for the second group, well...they will think that they are "rebelling" but in reality they are just taking the lead from what we tell them is rebelling.  Gothic punks are learning from the oxymoron bands as in good charlotte, linkin park, and simple plan just to name a few.  The gangsta trend is something they actually made up themselves.  Sort of a cross between a prep and a punk.  We are so proud of them. The next generation will be just rightly programmed. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/137035/ Thu, 18 May 2006 09:03:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/137035/ Voices of the World   The phantom in my head says that I should do what they tell me.  He says that this belly shirt will look cool and boys will look at me.  The phantom says that I could be somebody if I didn't care what my parents say.  The phantom in my head says that smoking weed will make me cool.  He says everyone else goes to wild parties and drinks beer.  The phantom in my head says that I need to have a boyfriend to make me even more popular.  The phantom says that store-bought is better than homegrown.  He says that they will accept me if I give into the pressure.   But what do I say? http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/137027/ Thu, 18 May 2006 08:41:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/137027/ Seer   It was six in the morning, in E-ville Indiana when Shelly Shelton woke up to her favorite song on her best clock radio.  She got up and picked out her first-rate outfit, which she slipped into with amazing ease.  Then she polished her shining whtie teeth and brushed her beautiful blonde hair.  She looked in the mirror and said to her very vain self, I am beautiful.   Then abruptly, her fingernails started to grow at an alarming rate.  They were growing so fast that they started curling.  What was happening??  While her nails were getting longer and dirtier by the second she was developing an odor that was coming from her... warts?  Warts were spreading from her face to the rest of her body.  How was this happening?  By now she was screaming, but noone came.  Her hair was turning into greasy, gray dreadlocks.  She realized suddenly that her feet had grown to be twice as long as her arms.  Everything around her turned black.  Except for the mirror.  And a voice boomed, THIS IS WHAT I SEE...   And for the first time she saw herself for what she truly was. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/137018/ Thu, 18 May 2006 08:09:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/137018/ We have been so busy lately with unpacking and such, the kids haven't mentioned much about the activities they are missing back home.  They were very active in their youth groups and at the library and so forth.  So our local library, small as it is, has a Live Poet Society where teens meet weekly and discuss their writing.   The girls have gone twice now and are really enjoying themselves.  Each girl (currently there are no guys in the group) reads her writing assignment for that week.  They all discuss what they think about that writing & then move on to the next.  One of the librarians is a local published author.  He leads the discussion.  At the end, he will pick a topic to write on for the next week... their new assignment.    The topic of the week is normally picked by the girls scanning the books of the young adult room.  It is normally an "interesting phrase".  The girls can write prose or poetry.  Examples of topics include "Can I risk lighting the candle?" and "He couldn't lock up the Bible.".     I plan to begin posting the girls writings for this activity weekly... Check in later today...  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/132876/ Thu, 11 May 2006 08:57:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/132876/ It's been a while since I've posted on her work....I need to schedule a regular time to do this.   She has just completed the 2nd of 5 book reports necessary for this year.  This was on the http://ebiz.netopia.com/clpress/pages/store/skudetail.nhtml?profile=grade9&uid=12438&returnURL=http%3A//ebiz.netopia.com/clpress/grade9] Pearl Maiden.  The other 3 will go much faster since they are the books of her choice.    In history she is wrapping up the Roman Empire and in Biology she is wrapping up a study on atoms.  Nothing too exciting going on.  It was cool to be studying the Ides of March on the Ides of March. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/101752/ Fri, 17 Mar 2006 07:23:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/101752/ A forum friend had the wonderful idea of putting together Student Agenda Books or Student Planners.  What a grand idea!  So I thought I'd do the same.   I picked up cute little binders with matching tab dividers at Walmart.  A different binder style for each child.  I also scanned the dividers to have possible backgrounds for other printouts.   The book is constructed as follows: Curriculum Key in the very front.   1st Tab:  Monthly Calendar.  I put this together in PowerPoint using the Title + Object layout.  The Title is the name of the month plus a scripture of choice.  The Object is an Excel Spreadsheet, with short cells across the top for the name of the days & tall cells below for the day boxes.  I then typed the number of the date & any holiday or occasion in each cell justifying it to the top left.  I added clipart from the Microsoft website formatting the picture using the watermark feature (but adjusting slightly).   2nd Tab:  Weekly Agenda Sheets.  I put this together in Excel making each column a day.  The top half of the column has their assignments input by me for neatness sake and the bottom half is blank & lined to write any activities, appointments, etc they have that day.  There are 6 wide columns for each day (Sat & Sun sharing a column) and 6 very thin columns to check off assignmnets.  Cell A1 has the heading "Week of:" and the dates.  Such as "Week of: March 13 - March 19"   3rd Tab:  Student References:  So far I have included a commonly misspelled words document & a percent/decimal/fraction equivalent chart (courtesy of DonnaYoung.org).  I will continue to add to this section as the need arises.   4th Tab:  Contacts.  I have added lined loose leaf paper for the kids to compile contact information for all of their friends.  As these pages fill, I will enter them into a spreadsheet & print them.   5th Tab:  Personal Stuff.  This is for however they want to use it.  Jessica already has doodles, song lyrics, and journaling there.  I suppose Cassie will put her songs there as she writes them.  Jacob, well who knows.  He may not use it, but then I could show him how to track his favorite sports teams...   I have coordinated the fonts for the calendar, curriculum key & the agenda sheets.  This is also coordinated to each child so that each has their own font.    For some samples of these books, visit http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mtbriere/album?.dir=7fa0&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos . http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/100616/ Wed, 15 Mar 2006 10:07:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/100616/ Since the move is official now, I have decided to get on the ball with the next year's planning.   I have the go ahead from Christian Liberty for my substitutions in Jessica's & Cassie's curriculum.  So their schedules are complete, luckily we already own Saxon Algebra 1 & 2, Apologia Physical Science, and Story of the Constitution.  We should get some kind of price break for that.    I still need to purchase the rest of their curriculum through CLASS renewal.  They also will need Vocabulary From Classical Roots B, Apologia Chemistry 2nd edition, and Alg 1 DIVE cd (which I will try to find used or at discount), and each will need to pick 3 novels from the CLASS list for book reports.  I was able to pick up a used Solutions Manual for Alg1, which I think will be a great benefit to us next year.   For Jacob, I have decided to change his Language Arts program back to LLATL.  Since we already have the teachers edition from Jess, this will save money.  I still plan on doing the Total Language Plus for My Side of the Mountain. Everything else is as previously listed this far.  I have managed to find Saxon Math 76 (great deal!) Mind Benders A1 & LLATL student book all used.  I'm hoping to find the Vocabulary & Zoology used as well. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/100590/ Wed, 15 Mar 2006 09:55:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mtbriere/100590/